"The US Air Force and Lockheed Martin are getting ready to demonstrate the first operational use of live virtual constructive (LVC) training technology on 26 April at Luke Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona.

The technology has the potential to revolutionize the way air forces train-particularly for aviators who will fly 5th generation machines like Lockheed's F-22 Raptor and F-35....

...LVC technology will have to demonstrate its capabilities operationally before the USAF allows its fighter pilots to use it. Luke AFB's F-16 squadrons will be the first to use LVC training if Air Education and Training Command gives the go-ahead.

"On the 26th [of April] we've got government folks from AETC down at Randolph [AFB, Texas] that are going to come visit," McCutchen says. "We will do a demonstration with live virtual constructives."

I'm kind of wondering why they need to be in real aircraft for this, rather than just a simulator.
Also, with the helmet mounted displays, why can't the avionics create an image of the target for the pilot to see WVR?

Einstein got it backward: one cannot prevent a war without preparing for it.

Seems appropriate for this thread but of course youse may differ. Already we know that the RN/RAF have indicated that 50% of training time (similarly with USofA without being specific) have mentioned this same figure and now the CANUKs are going for it also. The RAAF have indicated how important simulators will be in their F-35 ops. The Dutch have developed a system newly in use for simulating threats etc....

Future Canadian fighter jocks to split simulator and real-world training time 03 Feb 2013 Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press

"OTTAWA - Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilots of the future could be spending almost as much time in a simulator as they do in the cockpit under a revised training regime that has its eyes on the bottom line as much as technology, say internal documents....

..."We're probably going to move towards a training plan that is probably going to be 50 per cent (simulation), 50 per cent flying, which is much different than what we've got now," Blondin said in an interview with The Canadian Press last fall.

"I'm a strong believer in simulation. I can transfer a lot of that training (into) simulation."

Currently air force fighter pilots spend about 20 per cent of their advanced training time practising in simulators and 80 per cent in the air with the actual jet....

..."We need to create that virtual world," Blondin said.

"If I can do this I'm reducing my operational costs. I am reducing the carbon footprint. It's one way for me to approach the budget restriction we're going to see in the future, so I certainly want to go there."

In the context of the F-35, Blondin said the concept of a virtual training unit has been kicked around, something that would replace an operational training unit and the need to set aside aircraft for instruction.

It would involve setting up a "squadron" of 16 simulators, and when pilots needed actual cockpit time, they could use front-line aircraft.

The concept is particularly important in light of the Harper government's insistence on buying only 65 F-35s, the minimum the air force says it needs to carry out its duties.

Combat aircraft other than the stealth fighter could also be supported through a virtual training regime.

The expanded use of simulators would be for advanced "combat-ready" training.

Many front-line pilots complain they join the air force to fly, not to spend time in a simulator. But Blondin counters that the new training regime is being developed for the next generation of pilots who are more at home in a "virtual world."

Once again in the context of the F-35, Blondin said the simulator training would be "better than anything you can fly at night 25,000 feet over Bagotville," Que, where CF-18s are now based.

He said real-world training exercises, using a series of jets pitted against once another, are expensive, and increase the risk of an adversary monitoring and evaluating pilots."
______________________

Searching on 'NLR' on the F-35 Forum will get the Dutch simulation info:

ECATS: training with combat aircraft, any time, any place 02 Dec 2013 NLR - National Aerospace Laboratory

"Dutch Space and the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands (NLR) will present the 'Embedded Combat Aircraft Training System' (ECATS) at the I/ITSEC conference in Orlando, Florida, from 2 to 5 December 2013. ECATS is a training simulation program that will be built as standard feature into the F-35. It provides fighter pilots with a possibility to exercise combat scenarios with virtual air and ground opponents during a training flight. Using ECATS it is possible to train the extensive capabilities of the F-35 anywhere and at any desired time more realistically, more effectively and more efficiently.

The latest addition to ECATS has opened up the possibility integrate flight simulators and other Live, Virtual and Constructive training assets in the training flight. ECATS can either be used as part of a larger LVC system capability or stand-alone on single ship or multi ship training flights without any need for ground infrastructure.

Dutch Space and NLR have prepared together with Lockheed Martin a Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) demonstration for the I/ITSEC 2013. ECATS is an important part of the new LVC training system of Lockheed Martin. Integrated LVC systems are the training systems of future. By integrating real weapon platforms with simulators and computer-generated opponents through ECATS, it is possible to make optimum use of advanced training facilities, with the aim of providing better and cheaper training.

For the development of the system Dutch Space and NLR used their in-depth knowledge of aircraft systems and simulations and their multidisciplinary approach to training programs. The organizations have been working together since the late 1990s on Embedded Training products for LVC applications in support of the 4th and 5th generation fighter pilot community. At the start of 2009 Lockheed Martin gave the green light for the implementation of the ECATS embedded training system in the F-35, resulting in delivery in 2012.

Smart Bandits: combat training with intelligent opponents NLR will also be presenting at I/ITSEC the 'Smart Bandits' training system for combat aviators. The system simulates intelligent opponents who exhibit human behavior. This makes the way opponents behave more realistic and increases the value of training.

Tactical missions presuppose that aviators adapt their tactical plans to the prevailing situation and anticipate the behavior of opponents: where are my opponents located and what tactical plan of attack will they use? Until recently virtual opponents exhibited 'one-dimensional' and pre-programmed behavior. With Smart Bandits, NLR is introducing virtual opponents who respond autonomously and who independently take realistic decisions.

NLR developed Smart Bandits by drawing on its exceptional expertise in the field of simulation techniques, training programs and behavioral psychology. Smart Bandits has been extensively tested in NLR's Fighter 4 Ship research and training facility."

Reasonable possie for this info - not worth a new thread due all 'pie in the sky' so far....

“Aptima is leading the research to figure out how much the fidelity would have to be increased and how in order to complete a significant portion of aircraft carrier landing training in a simulator.”

"SIMULATORS ARE CRUCIAL FOR TRAINING civilian and military personnel, and they have evolved over the years to provide varying levels of fidelity and training utility. Prior to this SBIR however, there was no standard tool for determining the appropriate level of fidelity in simulators to achieve specified training objectives, maintain trainee acceptance, and fit within budgetary constraints. Since adjusting fidelity to the right level drives budget and optimizes readiness, the team at Aptima was motivated by one simple question – is all that fidelity really necessary? While most pilots would say “yes,” Aptima challenged this widespread opinion. Specifically, they wanted to measure the correlation between fidelity and training effectiveness, and how much fidelity could be dialed down without compromising the integrity of the training. This led to the development of PREDICT – Predicting Requirements for Instructional Environment Design to Improve Critical Training.

All simulator-based training programs struggle with the same problem—identifying which objectives can be trained in lower- or higher-fidelity simulators, and which require training in the actual aircraft. Aptima’s vision was that PREDICT would be a tool that combines fidelity requirements defined by end-users, existing theory and research about fidelity, and objective performance data from fidelity experiments to support more informed decisions regarding the acquisition and use of training simulators. This was a vast difference from the baseline technology at the time, which provided data exclusively from end-users. This approach is problematic since it typically results in specifications for a simulator that exceed the amount of money available for development and/or acquisition. As a result, acquisition and training professionals must make difficult fidelity trade-off decisions.

...Aptima entered into a $2.8 million contract with NAVAIR to use PREDICT in landing carrier training. Currently, Aptima is in its second year of a 4-year Future Naval Capabilities project with ONR, focused on Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) training. This time, they are on the other end of the fidelity equation, investigating how fidelity can be dialed up for difficult tasks such as an F/A-18 landing on a carrier. Currently, there is no way around the fact that carrier landing training must happen in an actual aircraft. Aptima is leading the research to figure out how much the fidelity would have to be increased and how in order to complete a significant portion of this training in a simulator...."

"...As the name implies, the concept behind LVC is the integration of live, virtual and constructive assets for a training program. Imagine the Air Force’s traditional “Red Flag” training exercise, but instead of needing dozens of flying assets in the sky, the service would need to put up only four or five planes.

The red team in this scenario could instead be run on simulators across the country, while ground-based stations could set up constructive elements such as weather conditions or new mission scenarios with the flick of a switch....

...“The beauty is, you can generate that readiness by injecting into that cockpit constructive and virtual sophisticated red air assets that our folks don’t have the ability to train against today, [and] sophisticated surface-to-air threat emitters you don’t have the ability to train against today, and they appear into the cockpit exactly as they do in the real world,” said John Schwering, Boeing’s business development leader for Training Systems and Government Services....

“We’re looking at how we can use LVC training for the F-16, F-22 and F-35s, with the idea that F-35 could potentially benefit. This is a Lockheed investment,” said Mary Ann Horter, vice president for F-35 sustainment at Lockheed’s Global Training and Logistics business unit. “It’s still early, but I think there are real possibilities that could help us long term, and a program the size of F-35 could really see the benefits from the training perspective.”...

...“Long term, that can help not only form an ability to keep pilots current and reduce the cost of live flying, but with a fifth-gen airplane, airspace can become a challenge to really test what you need to,” Horter said. “So I think [LVC] would help with that, as well.”..."

"Innovations in Air Combat Training" - The Blue Chair Chronicles - Published on Feb 21, 2013

"Cubic Defense Applications' director of business development explains Cubic'scontinuing role in the development of Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation systems. (Script)

0:02 Before joining the Cubic team, I served in the United States Marine Core for 26 years and in that career I was an FA-18 pilot.

0:16 I'm a director for business development at Cubic and I primarily support the air ranges product line. Cubic actually invented the first air combat maneuvering instrumentation system, which is now commonly referred to as ACMI. Cubic invented the system back in the early 70's and installed this first station at Marine Core Air Station Yuma, Arizona and it was for the Top Gun program.

0:36 Measuring the number of pilots that we've trained with our air combat training systems is challenging, in the millions, easily for the number of sorties that have been flown. Every U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Core, international guard, fighter pilot that eventually gets winged will train with a Cubic Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation system when they get to their first tactical aircraft.

0:57 Probably one of the most effective innovations in air combat training systems is pairing it up with electronic warfare threat emitter systems. So if you can use the ACMI system to queue the treat emitter system as opposed to using those very expensive radars, then you've saved yourself a lot of money. In addition, it is much more effective because it gives you a live monitor capability to watch and assess how pilots are doing in their defending against real threats, and it also allows you to record and debrief when you come back and the pilot can see how they performed.

1:30 The next big innovation that we are going to see with air combat training systems is incorporating what we call L-V-C or live, virtual and constructive technology and Cubic is the lead systems architect for this project.

1:43 Fifth generation air crafts have incredible capability at their disposal both on-board sensors and weapons. So to really challenge this pilot and their weapon system to its fullest extent today, we need to be able to inject more threats into the training scenario and L-V-C promises to do that."

BTW, until the sims can have 7 - 8 gees and cases of gee-loc, ain't gonna be the same.

Seems to me that in actual flight, you could put threat radars and simulated aircraft on the displays of the F-35, and have a few real attackers out there to encourage visual lookout and such. Plus real lock-on indications and such.

Gums opines...

Gums
Viper pilot '79
"God in your guts, good men at your back, wings that stay on - and Tally Ho!"

Hmmm... some sutherners must have been watching a different video. I have listened to the video above twice and read the script (which seems accurate) to not hear 'carbon footprint'? WOT? Is the 20 year USMC veteran F-18 pilot cred restored?

"Cubic Defense Applications' director of business development explains Cubic's continuing role in the development of Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation systems.(Script)0:02 Before joining the Cubic team, I served in the United States Marine Core for 26 years and in that career I was an FA-18 pilot.

0:16 I'm a director for business development at Cubic and I primarily support the air ranges product line. Cubic actually invented the first air combat maneuvering instrumentation system, which is now commonly referred to as ACMI. Cubic invented the system back in the early 70's and installed this first station at Marine Core Air Station Yuma, Arizona and it was for the Top Gun program.

0:36 Measuring the number of pilots that we've trained with our air combat training systems is challenging, in the millions, easily for the number of sorties that have been flown. Every U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Core, international guard, fighter pilot that eventually gets winged will train with a Cubic Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation system when they get to their first tactical aircraft.

0:57 Probably one of the most effective innovations in air combat training systems is pairing it up with electronic warfare threat emitter systems. So if you can use the ACMI system to queue the threat emitter system as opposed to using those very expensive radars, then you've saved yourself a lot of money. In addition, it is much more effective because it gives you a live monitor capability to watch and assess how pilots are doing in their defending against real threats, and it also allows you to record and debrief when you come back and the pilot can see how they performed.

1:30 The next big innovation that we are going to see with air combat training systems is incorporating what we call L-V-C or live, virtual and constructive technology and Cubic is the lead systems architect for this project.

1:43 Fifth generation air crafts have incredible capability at their disposal both on-board sensors and weapons. So to really challenge this pilot and their weapon system to its fullest extent today, we need to be able to inject more threats into the training scenario and L-V-C promises to do that."

"If I can do this I'm reducing my operational costs. I am reducing the carbon footprint. It's one way for me to approach the budget restriction we're going to see in the future, so I certainly want to go there."

The global warming comment was not in the following posts. ++++++++

From my distant past, the sim for the A-7D was outstanding for nav and radar work. No hemispherical visual, just basic instruments and such. We could fly terrain following and use all the radar modes as if we were at night or poor WX.

Then I flew one of the first visual sim beasts that Goodyear was working on for the Eagle. Very nice, but still no gees and such.

Then I got to fly the F-20 and F-18 sims. One had awesome vis ( the Hornet). Could do ground attack, land on a boat, etc. Still not good enuf for A2A, but better than anything I ever saw.

+++++++

As I opined, it should be easy to project simulated threats and radar blips on the F-35 displays. Meanwhile, a few real, live adversaries can help you train and find out that pulling gees and having crappy weather improves your capability to get the job done.

Gums opines...

Gums
Viper pilot '79
"God in your guts, good men at your back, wings that stay on - and Tally Ho!"